City University of Hong Kong CLASS CLASS
Making Sense of Grammar
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asked Aug 13, 2020 in Questions about Chinese Grammar by Ariel (34,480 points) | 260 views

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Bié(別), bú yào(不要) and béng(甭) can be used in the negative imperative sentences with or without the subject.

Bié(別) and bú yào(不要) share the same meaning when used to forbid or dissuade somebody from doing something. The imperative sentences introduced by bú yào (不要) are stronger in tone than these start with bié(別).

    雨這麼大,你別/不要出門了。

    yǔ zhè me dà, nǐ bié/bú yào chū mén le.

    It's raining hard, don't go out.

    不要/别大声讲话!

    bú yào /bié dà shēng jiǎng huà!

    Don't talk loudly!

The negative adverb bié(別) also could be used in negative imperative sentences expressing the assumption of an undesirable situation. The expression usually is bié(shi)别(是)+ the undesirable situation.

    約定的時間都過了, 別是他不來了吧?

    yuē dìng de shí jiān dōu guò le, bié shì tā bù lái le ba?

    The appointed time passed, could it be that he is not coming?

The pronunciation of béng(甭) is the combination of the pronunciations of (不) and yòng (用), which conveys the meaning of “don’t need to”.

   既然你都知道了,我就甭说了。

    jì rán nǐ dōu zhī dào le, wǒ jiù béng shuō le.

   Now you know all about it, I don’t need to say anything.

Béng(甭) also dissuade somebody from doing something, in this case, bié(別), bú yào(不要) and béng(甭) are interchangeable.

    你別/甭/不要理他,他這個人一直這麼討厭。

    nǐ bié /béng /bú yào lǐ tā, tā zhè gè rén yī zhí zhè me tǎo yàn.

    Forget him, he has always been such a nuisance.

answered Aug 13, 2020 by Ariel (34,480 points)

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